From the feature “I saw by chance one day a little bit of a TV program about bounty hunters in America, and came up with a plan for the show in about an hour.” director Shinichiro Watanabe said in an interview”

I think that show about bounty hunters might have been Renegade starring Lorenzo Lamas. Renegade aired from 1992 to 1997. 5 seasons and 110 episodes. Wiki link. Cowboy Bebop first aired in 1998. The timing is right. Here’s a trailer for Renegade:

“He was a cop, and good at his job. But he committed the ultimate sin—and testified against other cops gone bad. Cops that tried to kill him, but got the woman he loved instead. Framed for murder, now he prowls the badlands…an outlaw hunting outlaws…a bounty hunter…a RENEGADE.”

Mind…Blown…

Who knew that Spike Spiegel was first based off of Lorenzo Lamas.

Sailor Moon R – The Movie. It’s about pirates. I like the explanation of the divergent Sailor Moon voice cast: “The English language version features the voice talent and producers who worked on the Sailor Moon TV series now playing on Cartoon Network.” The uncut version has a lengthy explanation.

I guess Maison Ikkoku did not sell well on VHS because the ad shows that the series is ONLY available through VIZ’s online store and catalog.

US Anime Releases That Time Forgot:

3 out of the 4 anime on ADV Films ad: Tatoon Master, Iczelion and Spell Wars.

Central Park Media’s Sins of the Sisters and Garzey’s Wing – You know from “the creator of Gundam.”

And another by “the creator of Gundam” Brain Powered. “Cause Gundam, you will buy this” …ummmm no.

Next is a featured article on Magic Knight Rayearth. Interesting that Rayearth was popular at the time, but never a nostalgic resurgence. It’s now mostly forgotten in modern fandom.

Question: Which anime studio had the first online streaming anime channel?

Answer: Manga with their Sputnik7.com site. I remember watching Blood The Last Vampire premiere on this service. The ad states “Real time audio video over the net” Streaming wasn’t really a term used then.

This shows once again that groundbreaking ideas sometimes come way before they can hit a critical mass and make a disruptive impact in the industry. It be an entire six years later when Crunchyroll launches and takes Manga’s Spuknik7’s vision and disrupt the US anime industry.

So, where’s that Macross 3D production? In two years, Macross Zero was released instead.

Next Up – The Anime Millennium “New Year’s Predictions”

This feature had Animerica staffers write their predictions for the next year and beyond.

The key feature is the timeline from 1960s Astro Boy to 1999 Digimon broadcast.

To end this issue, take a look at the DVD and VHS anime release dates for January, February and March 2000.

Comments

Nice post. I found the predictions interesting to review in hindsight. Also, if you look carefully at the 18+ anime advert, one of those titles is not like the others; in fact you could say it’s a cut above the rest. 😉